U.S. stocks finish tumultuous week on high note

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Specialist Mario Picone, left, works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. Stocks staged a late rally Friday, ending a wild week marked by dramatic point swings on a positive note. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

U.S. equities ended their worst week in two years on a positive note, but the rate-hike fears that rocked markets in recent days may return when inflation figures come out Feb. 14.

The S&P 500 Index erased a loss of 1.9 percent Friday to close 1.5 percent higher on the day. Still, this month’s selloff has wiped out the benchmark’s gains for the year, and rising Treasury yields could spark more convulsions.

“Sometimes making a bottom can take time,” Ernie Cecilia, chief investment officer at Bryn Mawr Trust Co., said by phone. “Investors should be at least aware, cognizant, and expect a little more volatility after we go through this period of more cathartic volatility.”

After pushing above 40, the Cboe Volatility Index fell below 30 but remains more than twice last week’s levels. Commodities including oil, gold and industrial metals moved lower Friday. The dollar, euro and sterling all declined.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 330 points, or 1.4 percent, to 24,190. Earlier in the day it had dropped by 500. The S&P 500 gained 38 points.

Still, both the Dow and S&P 500 lost more than 5 percent for the week. Both indexes had their worst week since January 2016. The Dow recorded 1,000-point drops on Monday and Thursday.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 1.5 percent, to close at 2,619. The Nasdaq rose 97 points, or 1.4 percent, to 6,874.

Europe and Asia weren’t spared from the drama that’s afflicted global stocks. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index clocked its worst week since 2016, losing almost half a year’s gains. China’s benchmark fell the most in almost two years earlier, while the MSCI World Index is set for its biggest weekly drop since 2016. A measure of U.S. bond-market volatility soared, as core European bond yields dropped.

Traders are now focusing on next week’s U.S. consumer-price data after a week in which the 10-year yield pushed as high as 2.88 percent. Equity investors took the signal to mean interest rates will rise as inflation gathers pace, denting earnings and consumers’ spending power.